Editorial: Incompetence on the Pike

Tuesday

Oct 30, 2007 at 12:01 AMOct 30, 2007 at 1:31 PM

The toll increase approved by the Mass. Turnpike Authority Monday was bad enough. It puts more of the burden of paying for the Big Dig on the shoulders of Pike users west of Boston. It will add a dollar to the cost of a trip into the city and back.

The MetroWest Daily News

The toll increase approved by the Mass. Turnpike Authority Monday was bad enough. It puts more of the burden of paying for the Big Dig on the shoulders of Pike users west of Boston. It will add a dollar to the cost of a trip into the city and back.

But the way the toll increase was enacted makes this assault on MetroWest drivers even harder to take - and raises big questions about the ability of the Patrick administration to get control of the state's transportation challenges.

The toll-setting process has been a series of misadventures. First the TPA board postponed a vote when the Pike staff couldn't answer questions about the numbers. Then TPA board member Mary Z. Connaughton of Framingham uncovered a miscalculation that understated the revenue the toll hikes would raise by at least $6 million. The Pike put on a series of public hearings during which Pike staff listened passively to a chorus of complaints about equity and Pike management, but most of the Pike board members didn't bother to attend.

Monday's culminating meeting bordered on the absurd. Connaughton had proposed a series of alternative toll increases that would raise the money needed for the bond payments without increasing the tolls on the Extension for drivers who use FastLane. She had promoted her options at board meetings and public hearings. She had worked with Pike staff to double-check her numbers.

For the first two hours of Monday's meeting, it appeared her hard work had paid off. Turnpike Authority Chairman Bernard Cohen and other board members expressed support for Connaughton's proposal and concern over the equity issue. Since Pike staff - again - said their analysis was incomplete, the board was ready to delay a decision. But Cohen called a recess, and let Pike staff change his mind.

In a series of closed-door meetings with Cohen and other board members, Pike staff reportedly argued that the bondholders and bond rating agencies - who are always blamed for unpopular Pike decisions - required the decision be made immediately. They said changing the toll hike proposal would require more public hearings, which is a backhanded way of admitting the hearings are a sham, since the board cannot make any changes based on the public's input.

Besides, with only two months until the new tolls were to take effect, there might not be enough time to print new toll tickets. That Cohen bought this flimsy rationale and the two other Patrick TPA board appointees went along is a disappointment that will hit Pike drivers in the wallet beginning Jan. 1.

We're forced to conclude from all this that the Turnpike Authority staff is not just deaf to the concerns of tollpayers, it is incompetent. Cohen, who is Gov. Deval Patrick's secretary of transportation as well as TPA chairman, comes across as weak and unprepared.

Patrick and Cohen are working on a plan to merge the state's transportation agencies under Cohen's leadership. If he can't do better than this, a merger will be a very tough sell.